Knowing God Deeply Part 3

Sociologist Christian Smith, formerly of the University of North Carolina and now at the University of Notre Dame, in his book Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teens looked at the question of faith development--along with faith genesis and epistemology in teens. 

From 2001-2002 Smith led a team in a remarkable study of teen spirituality in America today.  From his extensive interviews, Smith concluded that the dominant form of religion or spirituality of American young people today is what he referred to as, “moralistic, therapeutic deism.”

Smith observed that most teens—including those reared in evangelical churches who claimed that their faith was “very important” and makes a big difference in their lives—are “stunningly inarticulate concerning the actual content of their faith.” In contrast with previous generations that at least had some residual knowledge of the Bible and basic Christian teachings, it appears that in this younger generation there is very little serious ability to state, reflect upon, or examine their beliefs—much less find any way to relate them to their daily lives.

Dr. Smith defines this “moralistic therapeutic deism” in a working theology as:

1.     God created the world.

2.     God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and most world religions.

3.     The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself.

4.     God does not need to be particularly involved in one’s life except when needed to solve a problem.

      5.  Good people go to heaven when they die.

Many people I know, who consider themselves distinctively Christian, are repulsed when confronted with the above list, yet are still unable to articulate their faith in the Triune God in a biblical, theological manner.  Many simply “know in their hearts” who God is in general and the nature and work of Christ in particular. This is a particularly troubling response from Christian people as it makes the faith entirely subjective.  What one person feels and knows in their hearts to be true concerning God may be very different from another.  Rooting faith in complete subjectively is both naïve and dangerous—naïve because the Scriptures don't give us that option; dangerous because feelings and warmed hearts are fleeting, and based on my own personal experience, are completely unreliable.

Moralistic, therapeutic deism has, from my personal observation, taken over much of the theological reflection of the people of God.  People want to be good.  People want to be liked.  People want to think that nice people go to heaven.  People want to believe that God is there for them—to help them out of situational circumstances and to offer blessings when appropriate.  The problem with this line of thinking is that it flies in the face of two thousand years of Orthodox Christian teaching and belief concerning how the Triune God reveals himself in Scripture.  It fails in the face of the fleshy-bloody-sinewey incarnation of Jesus into the world.  Basically, it assumes that God has formed humanity for its own pleasure rather than for God’s.